Recently, I spoke from Revelation 3:14-22 about being a dispassionate (lukewarm) follower of Jesus. While preparing the message I came across this list describing a lukewarm Christian and I felt it was important enough to share with a broader audience. It is convicting, so only read it if you desire a greater devotion to Christ. My prayer is that many of us will be stirred to repentance and a more passionate devotion to Him.
Lukewarm people attend worship fairly regularly because they think that is what they have to do, not what they want to do.
Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They care more about what people think about their actions than what God thinks of their hearts.
Lukewarm people do not really want to be saved from their sins. They only want to be saved from the penalty of their sins.
Lukewarm people do not believe that the new life in Christ is really better than the old sinful life.
Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, and friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people feel uncomfortable by talking about personal issues like religion.
Lukewarm people gauge their “goodness” by comparing themselves to others. They are satisfied as long as they aren’t as “bad” as someone else.
Lukewarm people say they love Jesus and Jesus is a part of their lives. But only a part! They give him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but he isn’t allowed to control their lives.
Lukewarm people love God, but they do not love him with all their heart, soul, and strength. They assure themselves by thinking that this sort of total devotion is not really possible for the average person.
Lukewarm people think about life on earth much more than they do about eternity in heaven. Daily life is mostly focused on today’s to-do list, this week’s schedule, and next month’s vacation.
Lukewarm people probably drink and swear less than average, but besides that, they really aren’t much different from the typical unbeliever.
Lukewarm people walk by sight, not by faith. They do not trust their lives to God, but trust in themselves.
Below is a list of some of the tangible things God did for us in 2010. Obviously, there are many spiritual blessings that can't be measured in the same manner as these I've given. I prepare a list like this every year, as it helps me to get my mind around God's working in our fellowship. Rejoice with me and ask God to do it again in 2011.
2010 Blessings
The total number of converts to Christ from all of the 2010 outreaches of LMBC is hard to pinpoint with specificity, but following are the numbers we’ve actually recorded: 50 Huntington High School football players (some now in discipleship studies), 38 adults from our church services, 32 children from our children’s ministry, 40 through our Encounter Bible Studies, one child from the AWANA program, an exchange student from Germany, etc., etc. Many others were reached through ministries like the Daily Walk and our numerous outreaches throughout the year.
Our small group ministry was actively involved in numerous Servant Evangelism projects such as the Pumpkin Festival outreach, Gift baskets (with Gospel literature) in the hospitals, quilts for Veterans and the crisis pregnancy center, several taste and see events (inviting unbelievers to dinner and discussing Christ/Scripture), water distribution on the campus of Marshall University, feeding the homeless, nursing homes, roofing houses and other repairs, etc. (too numerous to list).
We began the “Water of Life” outreach. A trailer was purchased to distribute free bottled water (along with Gospel and church literature) at local fairs, festivals and local community events.
One of our members introduced us to and we began working with the “Back Pack” program, which provides food for the weekend for 41 children from one of our local public elementary schools. These backpacks are filled each week by our members and teens so the children will have something to eat on the weekend when public assistance through the school system isn’t available to them (They also receive a copy of our Encounter Bible studies).
God opened the door for one of our deacons to speak to the HHS football team on a weekly basis at the practice field before the players, coaches and parents.
We sent out a total of 18,260 Encounter Bible Study lessons with 15,013 being returned. There were 1021 certificates earned by EBS students and we gained 347 new students during the year. (The number converted through this ministry is listed under #1.)
We had more than 2700 people present for our Trunk or Treat outreach event and 256 children involved in the VBS program.
There was a total of 84 new members added to LMBC in 2010.
Our largest Sunday morning attendance for 2010 was 1378 and we had 174 people that registered as visitors over the 52 Sundays of the year. Many other visitors were in attendance, but did not register.
Our small group ministry nearly doubled in size with more than 54 groups meeting throughout the week in 2010.
Many of our small group leaders also trained an apprentice so that we can perpetuate new leadership and multiply small groups.
The church’s first sermon-based small group was formed...a men’s group that met weekly.
A “grass-roots” discipleship effort was born that will have increasing impact over the coming years.
Our Heart2Heart ladies mentoring ministry continued to help women grow in their faith and discipleship.
We implemented a new children’s curriculum in the Kids Connection ministry (first through fifth grades) that will take children through every major story/character of the Bible, teach them systematically the basic doctrines of the Christian faith, and instruct them in creation science.
We began the Caring Hearts ministry that shares God’s love with more than 60 widows who are members of LMBC. This ministry sends cards and makes weekly phone calls to encourage one another, as well as many of our shut-ins.
We had 1,200 that attended our Huntington Festival of Christmas Music for the two nights of the performance.
Over 60 choir members and more than 20 instrumentalists participated in two major productions this year.
Our music ministry combined their efforts with the King’s Players from Liberty University in presenting a stirring Easter musical entitled, Days of Glory on Easter Sunday Evening. There were more than 600 in attendance that evening to worship our resurrected Savior.
Our hospital visitation staff visited 209 people in the hospitals in 2010. With a visit from someone every day there were 1537 total visits made by this team. These totals do not include the hundreds of visits made to our shut-ins and those in nursing/personal-care homes.
This years Missions Transformation Conference was inspiring as many people made new commitments to the cause of church planting around the world.
We added six new missionary families to our missions outreach and took church members on six short term mission trips to foreign fields.
In 2010 our people gave $270,000 above their regular giving to LMBC for the cause of missions.
Our church also hosted doctors, nurses, health professionals, and others on two trips to Haiti following the devastating earthquake in 2010.
More than $10,000 was raised for missions for our annual “Touch the World” Golf tournament.
There were three new families added to Daystar Baptist Missions, Inc., who are going to various regions of the world to plant churches.
We were blessed with the privilege of ordaining another of our church members (Robert Krzesinski) to the Gospel ministry. He and his family are now preparing to go to Poland to plant churches.
Our young people averaged approximately 90 students in attendance in their Wednesday night worship service.
In 2010 our teens helped a family in need in TN with home improvements, as well as re-roofed the house of one of our widows.
For the first time in our new Student Ministry Building our teens hosted the entire Sunday night congregation for songs of praise/worship and a “cardboard testimony” service.
Our Prime-time Fellowship (senior adults) took 10 trips in 2010 to places like Niagra Falls, Myrtle Beach, Cass Railroad, Pigeon Forge, etc. and 12 new regular attenders were added to the church through this outreach.
Due to a generous gift and the diligent efforts of a Realtor in our fellowship we were able to purchase two pieces of property at a significant savings, including a house now used for ministry purposes and a lot that became church parking.
Thanks to the efforts of one of our church members and a generous gift by a donor, we were able to complete phase three of our parking lot across from the Worship Center.
A generous donation allowed us to purchase a fifteen passenger shuttle bus to be used for transporting people from the parking-lots adjacent to the Worship Center.
There were many technological upgrades throughout the church facility. For instance, we installed a satellite dish so that we can host live streaming seminars and conferences from anywhere in the world. We are one of only two churches in this region that can provide this ministry.
Two of our members that are trained professional counselors began accepting referrals from the LMBC pastoral staff in 2010. They meet with these referrals on our campus in order to minister to the spiritual and emotional needs of our members. This has been enormously helpful to our pastoral staff, as well as those who are discipled in this new ministry.
The Daily Walk ministry continues to grow in viewers; and the faithful servants in that ministry completed more than 700 orders for CDs and DVDs. They also welcomed seven new servants to their ministry.
Our audio ministry began installing quality improvements for both live music and recordings that will be completed in early 2011.
Our “Thirty Pieces of Silver” offering raised $23,158 and our “Gifts for Jesus” offering raised $32,181 to be used to broadcast the Gospel through our Daily Walk TV program.
The West Ridge Bookstore was added to the lobby of our Worship Center with the assistance from Guiding Light Christian Store with whom we partner in this ministry.
The greatest challenge that God has given each parent is that of raising his/her children.
Jacquelyn Kennedy once said, “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do really matters.” (Roy B. Zuck, The Speaker’s Quote Book, p. 50)
As I look over the 30 plus years of my ministry, I have many things for which I am thankful. I have weathered some difficult storms and leaned into the winds of adversity on more than one occasion. During that time there have been many that have come to faith in Christ and lives renewed in their walk with God. But, I could not feel that I have experienced even a measure of success if in the process I had lost my children to the world, the flesh and/or the Devil.
David McKay writes, “No success can compensate for failure in the home.” (Roy B. Zuck, The Speaker’s Quote Book, p. 50)
Sadly, it is at the level of the home that we are placing too little emphasis.
Do we really know the impact our homes have on the lives of our children?
Studies have shown that 1% of influence in a child’s life comes from the church and Sunday school. The percentage of influence increases to 7% from their classroom experiences at school. The greatest influence in a child’s life (92%) is from the home. (H. Wayne House & Kenneth M. Durham, Living Wisely in a Foolish World, p. 50)
If we as parents have such a powerful impact on our children’s lives then it is important that we see our children as God sees them.
Consider…
1.The Right Perspective on Our Children (127:3)
Children are called here “an heritage,” and “His reward.” It is implied in these terms that children are a blessing, not a burden. An inheritance is something of great value that is passed down to you by another. Our children are of great value given to us by God.
When a society degenerates, one of the evidences of this decline is a loss of family love.
“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” (Romans 1:29-32)
Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “When society is rightly ordered children are regarded, not as encumbrances, but as an inheritance; and they are received, not with regret, but as a reward.” (Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Volume 3, Psalms 120-150, p. 85)
a.Each Child is a precious gift
Implied in this phrase “an heritage of the Lord” is not only the thought that our children are from the Lord, but also that they “belong to the Lord.”
H.T. Armfield writes, “The Hebrew seems to imply that children are an heritage belonging to the Lord…” (Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Volume 3, Psalms 120-150, p. 85)
Our children are on loan to us from God! We are to be good stewards of the gifts that He has given us, knowing that we will give an account for our stewardship.
b.Each Child is a perpetual joy
The text says that the man who has children is a “HAPPY” man (Psalm 127:5).
It doesn’t always feel this way when you are in the throes of childrearing, though.
I am reminded of a bedraggled-looking mother of three unruly preschoolers who was asked whether she would have children if she had it to do all over again. The mother responded, “Sure, just not the same three.”
All parents feel like that mother at times, but the Scripture is clear that children are a blessing from God and can bring joy to the hearts of their parents.
Listen to these Scriptures:
“The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father…” (Proverbs 10:1)
“My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.” (Proverbs 23:15-16)
“The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.” (Proverbs 23:24)
Consider…
2.The Rich Potential of Our Children
The analogy that is used here of an arrow and a mighty man reminds us of the tremendous potential our children possess.
A teacher of ten-and eleven-year old boys in Germany would take off his top hat and bow before the boys in deference to them. “Why do you do that?” someone asked him one day. He answered, “Who knows what one of these boys may become?” Little did he know what one of the boys would accomplish in his life and his name was Martin Luther.
It is not that every child will have a renowned impact on the world, but it is that every child will have some impact on the world around him.
What does it take for your children to realize the full potential of their lives?
a.They must be fashioned
Before an arrow can fly through the air to hit the target, it must be first fashioned by the archer. Children come to us raw and unformed.
A woman once said to me that when she had her first child she suddenly realized that he hadn’t come with an instruction manual.
While I understand her comment was in relation to how you care for her new child, we do have a manual instructing us about the important things that need to be developed in our children’s lives.
This Book is none other than the Bible and it is our instruction manual guiding us in the process of fashioning our children.
This process of fashioning our children involves cutting away things that would hinder our children and instilling things that will give their lives that polished finish.
b.They must be focused
As “a mighty man” must aim the arrow at his target so our children must be aimed at the glory of God.
Too many parents take the attitude that they will leave spiritual matters up to their children when they reach the age of maturity. That is a fatal mistake and a dereliction of our stewardship. (Roy B. Zuck, The Speaker’s Quote Book, p. 53)
Someone has said, “If you do not teach your child the ways of the Lord, the Devil will teach them the ways of sin.” (Roy B. Zuck, The Speaker’s Quote Book, p. 49)
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
c.They must be freed
Probably the hardest thing a parent has to do after all the investment of their lives in their children is to let them go toward God’s will for their futures.
As the “mighty man” must release the arrow for it to strike its mark, so we must release our children to accomplish His will for them.
A pastor was preaching in his small country church about the importance of missions and he was imploring someone from his congregation to go to a place on the other side of the world where the Gospel needed to be preached. During the invitation he prayed that someone would respond to the message but after several verses of the invitation song no one had come. The pastor began to cry and plead with the people for someone to surrender to this far away land. As tears were running down his cheeks and dropping to the floor someone moved from the back of the church. As the music continued playing a young girl stepped out into the aisle and walked down to the front. When she reached the preacher she whispered in his ear, “I’ll go, daddy. God wants me to go.” The preacher became more emotional and said to her, “Not you honey! Let someone else go, I wasn’t talking about you! Oh please, God, not my baby girl.”
It’s hard to let your children go, but it is always God’s will that we free them to follow the Lord!
One of the things that I love about our church is its dedication to biblical preaching. The arduous effort to impart spiritual truth from the Bible is only the product of a deep-rooted love for the Scriptures. Think about the Bible for a moment. God chose to reveal Himself specifically through this book that was written by 40 different authors over a period of 1,500 years. The Bible is like no other book written. Its contents have shaped human history. You see, it's no small matter that our teaching team stands before us each week and exposits truth. Remarkably there are nearly 6,000 existing Greek NT manuscripts today. It has been said by scholars that the vastness of manuscript support for our NT is an embarrassment of riches. It is true. Our manuscript evidence for the NT is startling-far out numbering all other historical writings.
Here is where I must confess; I've been obsessed with the Bible for a while now. So when I was given the opportunity to travel and help preserve the New Testament (NT) using digital photography, I couldn't resist. God has given me the privilege to travel on two expeditions, both in Germany and the U.S., to digitally preserve ancient Greek NT manuscripts. I worked with an organization called The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (csntm.org) to preserve these documents. In short, CSNTM is a non-profit organization whose mission is to digitally preserve all extant Greek manuscripts of the NT for scholarly study and enrichment of the Church. If you visit their website, you will already see thousands of images posted from numerous expeditions. On my first expedition, I worked with a team in Munster and Munich, Germany. My second expedition kept me state side as we shot manuscripts at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. It is crucial that these manuscripts be digitally preserved, for these documents are ancient treasures of the Church, which support and attest the validity of our NT text. By preserving NT manuscripts, scholars are able to draw us ever closer to the original wording of the NT, whereby we discover our Lord Jesus.
May I stop here and say, shooting manuscripts is intense work. It begins with a lot of politics just to even get permission to shoot manuscripts in certain countries. Once we receive the "go ahead," we then have to find a spot conducive for photography. Plus, we have lots of equipment: multiple 21 mega-pixel cameras, lenses, reflectors, tripods, cables, a copy stand (as seen in image), two laptop computers, multiple external hard drives, and other various essentials. All of this equipment must be set up properly and then, with gloved hands, one person must gently turn the pages and the other must operate the camera via the computer. For 8 hours a day, one person stands in a strenuous position as the other keeps a sharp eye on the screen watching the borders and edges so not to miss any crucial data on the page. Though difficult, nothing is more rewarding. Why? If our NT is important, then isn't it also important that we preserve those documents that undergird the very translations we hold in our hands? We have our NT because faithful scribes copied those words generations ago.
After these expeditions, I had to ask myself: "What did all this mean to me?" I think two responses are appropriate. First, the staying power of the Scripture is astounding. The oldest NT manuscript I have been privileged to handle was over 1,100 years old. Folks, that's ancient. Every generation, after our NT was penned, has had a copy of these writings. What I held in my hands was evidence of God's faithfulness to us. It reminds me that our NT is not a caged lion. It permeates the corridors of history. It is God's written self-revelation. It is used by the Spirit to change our lives. It cannot be silenced, even after nearly 2,000 years. So let us saturate our hearts and minds with its riches. Let us love our church for its commitment to biblical teaching.
Second, and most convicting, is the care in which these scribes labored over the NT. I quickly learned that not every manuscript is created equal. Some manuscripts are just a few leaves, while others are bound books. Some manuscripts are made of parchment, while others are made of papyrus. Some manuscripts contain only the Gospels, and others have the Gospels, plus the Epistles. Some manuscripts contain only Paul's writings, while a few possess the entire NT. I was overwhelmed with the realization that a scribe had a lot of writing to do. It could take months for him to finish, often in backbreaking positions. I had to ask myself if I loved God's Word that much. In a blessed culture like ours, where Bibles line the shelves of our local bookstores, we are at risk of forgetting the sacrifice of the ancient Church. What if the only copy of the NT you had is the one you copied by hand in the dim light of a flickering candle? It was precious to our ancient brothers. Is it precious to us?
“And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did regularly.” (Job 1:4-5)
God has given us these beautiful gifts from Heaven in our children. It’s important that as parents we pray faithfully for them knowing that they need God’s help, guidance and protection. Following are some of the things that every parent should be asking regularly for their kids.
We should Pray…
1.That they will trust Christ as their Savior as early in life as possible. (2 Timothy 3:15; Psalm 63:1)
2.That they will live committed lives to Jesus Christ. (Romans 12:1-2)
3.That they will have godly hatred for sin. (Psalm 97:10)
4.That they will be caught when they do wrong. (Psalm 119:71; cf. 119:67, 94:12)
5.That they will be protected from the evil one in every area of their lives: spiritual, emotional, physical, and financial. (John 17:15, 1 Peter 5:8)
6.That they will respect those in authority over them. (Romans 13:1)
7.That they will desire the right kind of friends and be protected from the wrong friends. (Proverbs 1:10)
8.That they will be brought to the right spouse and kept from the wrong one. (1 Corinthians 6:15)
9.That they, as well as the ones they marry, will be kept pure until marriage. (1 Corinthians 6:13-20)
10.That God will teach them the virtue of humility. (James 4:6)
Add to the list other things that God lays on your heart and that find support in the scripture.
As strange as it may seem, the decision about whether to cancel a church service due to weather conditions can be a difficult one to make.My personal inclination is to never cancel a service and to let each individual make his/her own personal choice about venturing into the weather. But, I am becoming increasingly more cautious with these decisions every year.
A few times over the years the decision has been easy because there was so much snow that it was impossible for us to clear the parking lots. On most occasions, however, it is much more difficult simply because you cannot predict whether a given snow storm will produce what is forecast or know exactly the impact it will have on the community.
You also have to take into account the difficulty of operating our ministry when there is the potential of significant numbers of people absent from their areas of service due to snowy/icy weather. And, if you continue with the schedule in spite of the conditions, some of our dedicated staff will try to be present even if they would not choose to do so otherwise. The consequence is that some people are unduly jeopardized by a decision to continue with a service when there is snow.
In addition, a church our size simply cannot mobilize for services without sufficient time to prepare, nor can we cancel a service effectively without plenty of time to get the word out. Consequently, the decision about canceling or conducting a service when weather is threatening usually has to be made well in advance of us knowing the full impact of a storm. That means that we may choose to cancel on the basis of the information we have at the time only to have conditions improve rather than worsen.
As you can see, a lot of factors play into any decision to cancel a service when the weather is snowy. Having heard horror stories of people injured or even killed trying to get to church in bad weather, I now choose to err on the side of caution more often than I did in the earlier years of my ministry. I love our people too much to place them in jeopardy of a fall or car accident on slippery roads/parking lots.
Since we aren’t having services tonight due to these weather conditions, take the evening and spend it with your family. God will be pleased if we use this opportunity to give quality time to those that matter the most to us.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:21-23)
The virgin birth was more than a means to protect Christ’s sinlessness, it was a “sign” declaring Him to be the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14).
2. To Reveal God To Man.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. (John 14:7-11)
3. To Be A Sympathetic Priest.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (Hebrews 4:14)
4. To Show A Godly Example.
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps… (1 Peter 2:21)
5. To Sacrifice Himself For Sin.
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:1-10)
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)
6. To Seek And Save Sinners.
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)
About fifteen years ago I came across a book concerning the will of God that transformed my thinking on the subject. Recently, the author has expanded the book and added a lot of new material that I believe is well worth the purchase price.
“Decision Making and the Will of God” is unlike any treatise you have ever read on the subject of finding God’s will. The primary reason is because it approaches the subject from a totally different (and I think biblical) perspective. Early in my Christian life I struggled with knowing God’s will for my life. After all, if there is only "one" choice that places you in the “center” of His will, it is essential that you “find” that singular choice or face missing God’s “perfect” plan. Most books on the subject I read provided a “formulae” that I thought was very arbitrary in their approach. And, I couldn’t help but feel that God, for some reason, was making the process feel like a search through a haystack for a needle.
Dr. Garry Freisen presents what I believe to be the most biblical and best approach to knowing God’s will for your life. At first reading, you may initially reject his ideas because it is significantly different to the approach most of us learned earlier in our Christian lives. But, if you will let the scriptures speak for themselves I think you will discover that God’s will is not “hidden” as some have been led to believe. Actually, though God has a sovereign will (that is secret and unalterable) and moral will (revealed in His inspired word and must be obeyed), I no longer believe that God has an “individual will,” as traditionally presented. You have probably heard a formulae for finding God’s will that goes something like this: What does God’s Word say about your choice? Have you talked to and listened to godly counselors on this matter? Do you have peace about your choice? Do the circumstances align to confirm your choice? Are there open or closed doors ahead of you? Etc., etc.
Do you see how some of these questions can lead a person to total inaction while making the most important decisions in life? The “way of wisdom” is the best way to know God’s will and it removes the fear of missing “God’s best.” Dr. Friesen argues poignantly that the "way of wisdom" is God's means for guiding our lives.
Two other books that address this same subject from a similar perspective are “Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach,” by Kevin DeYoung and “Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion?” by Dr. Bruce Walke. These are shorter books about the will of God, but both provide excellent material worth considering in the discussion of this subject. Although they interact less with the biblical text than Dr. Friesen's book, they are both very practical and biblical in their approach to doing God's will.
"Successful leaders always keep True North {i.e., the mission} uppermost in everyone’s mind. Adapting methods can be a point of leadership-strength as long as organizational mission remains in the forefront and new methods connect with changing circumstances. (Don’t say, “We’re trying this new … ” Do say, “We’ll better fulfill our mission if we … “) Organizations that believe changing their methods is changing their mission (True North) die. They cling to antiquated, ineffective programs, strategies, and techniques. However, organizations grounded in mission and committed to agility are more likely to thrive. An added benefit, adapting methods is perceived not as weakness but strength." --Dan Rockwell, Leadership Freak
It is sometimes true that churches are unable to separate their mission/message from their methods. Consequently, they wrongly believe that changing a method is equivalent to changing their mission/message. It is one of the reasons you see churches using the same methods that were used in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. No one questions their motivation or genuine commitment to Christ, but they are dying congregations because they refuse to use the most effective means of communicating their mission/message. Dan Rockwell is not necessarily addressing church life, but he is right when he says that "organizations grounded in mission and committed to agility are more likely to thrive."
